Fatherless
by oathk33p3r
Summary: Sora was all he had left, yet why did he feel fatherless? OC
1. Kyron

Fatherless

By oathk33p3r

Revised: 050910

**Kyron**

Waiting rooms are always interesting to observe. People of all stages in life can be found here. Elders patiently waiting for their health results, children resisting their appointments with piercing screams, and anxious husbands waiting for their wife's pregnancy updates sit side-by-side in that room.

Sora happened to be one of the latter. His hands were wringing an issue of National Geographic while his feet were tapping on the floor. Kairi had mentioned some abdominal pains earlier, and Sora immediately brought her here.

Finally, he saw Kairi show up from around the hall, cradling her swelling belly. She always looked damn beautiful.

Magazine thrown aside, Sora jumped up from his seat and rushed over to her.

"What did the doctor say? Was there anything wrong with you?"

Kairi smiled and pinched Sora's cheek. He tried to ignore the fact that her fingers seemed to carry no energy in them.

"Silly, you need to ask about the baby, not me. He's due in two weeks! But the doctor is still checking the results to see his condition."

"Sit down and talk, honey," Sora interrupted.

"Sora, I'm talking about our kid right now!"

Sora shook his head and wrapped an arm around his wife's shoulders.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Of course I care, how many times do I have to tell you! But until the thing is born, you're the most important person to me." Sora kissed the top of Kairi's auburn hair.

Kairi let out an exasperated sigh, but didn't protest.

She leaned on Sora's shoulder, letting out a sigh of content.

"Can you believe it, Sora? We're going to be parents."

The young twenty-four-year-old couple had been married for nearly a year and was expecting their first child.

"How are you so sure he's going to be a boy?" Sora teased.

"It's called a mother's instinct," Kairi giggled.

Again, Sora tried to ignore the little energy she seemed to have.

"Oh, sure. Well, I have "father's instinct" and I don't sense a boy," Sora joked back.

Kairi smiled and sat up straight to face Sora.

"What should we name him?"

Sora raised his brows and looked at the tile floors of the waiting room, thinking. He gently stroked Kairi's frail shoulder with his thumb.

"Sora?"

Kairi playfully smacked Sora's knee.

"I already told you how weird that would be."

Sora raised a brow.

"Because you scream my name whenever we're having hot sex?"

Kairi's jaws dropped and she pulled away from her husband.

"I can _not _believe you just said that!"

"You're smiling, you are totally smiling."

"Am not!"

But she was, oh she definitely was.

The couple burst out laughing. And they couldn't stop. They were so happy.

So very, very happy.

"I love you," Sora said. He tilted Kairi's chin and kissed her smiling lips.

Only until a nurse with a clipboard nervously coughed into her hand did the two realize where they were.

Sora cursed under his breath and quickly got up.

"Good news, Mr. and Mrs. Wataya. The baby is healthy and there are no problems. The abdominal pains you had were just results from a bit of stress. We suggest you relax at home. Mr. Wataya, please make sure your wife doesn't work too much," the nurse said.

Sora thanked the nurse and then turned back to his wife.

"Stress? Work? What is this nurse talking about, Kairi?"

Kairi didn't say anything and looked down at her hands. She started fiddling with a piece of string hanging from her white, cotton sweater.

Sora knelt down and put his hands on his wife's shoulders.

"What work? Kairi, answer me!"

"Let's talk about this at home, Sora," she said softly.

xxx

"You've been working at a grocery market? Are you kidding me, Kairi?"

The couple was back in their small apartment. Kairi was sitting on the couch with Sora standing over her.

"I thought you promised me, Kairi. You promised you'd stay home and let me make the money."

Kairi tried to hold back her tears and looked the other way.

"Sora, you weren't making enough."

"I had three jobs, Kairi! Three! My paychecks don't come out until the end of this month, Kairi! I promised we would have enough, why didn't you listen to me? "

"You made enough for the two of us, Sora!" Kairi spat back angrily. "But how about Kyron, huh? Why don't you ever talk about the baby? The baby is part of our family, Sora! I took that job because our _child _needed the money!"

Sora stared at his wife with disbelief. A heavy silence filled up the gap between them.

Kairi's bottom lip started to quiver and then she threw her face into her hands.

"Whenever I talked about names, you made a joke out of it or ignored the subject completely. The entire time I was pregnant, I've been thinking of a name so that we don't have to call the baby "it" or "the baby" all the time." Kairi wiped away her tears with the back of her hand and gained her composure.

"I hope you don't mind that I named him already," she said stiffly.

"Sleep on the couch today," Kairi said as she carefully got up. "I'm going to bed."

Sora watched his wife close the door behind her. He pinched the bridge of his nose and hung his head in frustration. He was such a jerk sometimes.

After letting out a deep sigh, he walked towards the bedroom.

"Kairi…honey…may I come in?"

When he heard no reply, he opened the door and walked towards the bed. He squatted next to Kairi's lying figure and placed his hand on her arm. Her back was towards him.

"I'm sorry, I really shouldn't have yelled at you, Kairi. I know how important the baby—Kyron—is to you."

He waited for Kairi to say something.

She only pretended to be asleep.

"Please forgive me, Kairi."

Sora sat there for a while. He was convinced that Kairi was really asleep until he felt her shudder from under his touch.

"I really want to do all I can for the child," Kairi cried.

Sora climbed into bed next to her and wrapped his arms around her frail body. The baby kept the two inches apart, but she still felt so small and weak in his arms.

"I know, I know. Shh, it's all right. I'll work hard for this family, all right? Go to sleep now, you can't be more stressed than you already are. I'm really sorry," Sora whispered.

xxx

"Don't come out today, okay?" Sora reminded Kairi over his shoulder.

Kairi wrapped her jacket tighter around her body and nodded.

"I won't. I'll see you later!"

"I love you!" Sora shouted.

Kairi smiled.

"I love you, too."

xxx

Sora burst out of the taxi and ran towards the glass doors of the hospital. His sweat-drenched shirt clung onto his skin and his heart knocked against his ribcage. He nearly broke down the glass doors before arriving at the waiting room. He found Riku with his head in his hands.

"What happened? Where is she?" Sora asked frantically as he shook his friend.

Riku looked up in surprise.

"Sora…"

"Dammit, Riku! Tell me what's going on!"

He was sobbing as tears merged with sweat.

"I dropped by your apartment to see how Kairi was doing. I found her on the floor with her dress drenched. She was unconscious," Riku answered as calmly as he could. "And so I called 911. I don't know what's going to happen, Sora."

Sora let go of his friend and slammed his fist against the nearby wall.

"Mr. Wataya?"

The doctor was standing behind him.

Sora turned his head around and angrily grabbed the doctor's coat.

"I was told that the baby was due in two weeks, not two days!" Sora shouted. "Tell me what's going on."

"Mr. Wataya, please, you need to calm down. We are doing all we can to help your wife. Your baby boy is doing fi—"

"Let me see her," Sora demanded.

The doctor shook his head.

"I'm afraid—"

Sora grabbed the doctor's coat even tighter.

"Let me see my wife!"

The doctor's shoulder slumped in defeat and stepped aside for Sora to pass through.

Not letting a second pass, Sora thrust the doors open and stepped inside.

"Sora, is that you?" Kairi called out weakly.

Sora's knees almost buckled. She looked horrible.

Sora wiped the sweat from his forehead and wore the biggest smile he could muster before rushing to Kairi's side.

"Of course it's me," he said.

"I'm dying, aren't I?"

That knot he dreaded started to swell under his Adam's apple and his blood seemed to run cold.

"No, of course you're not, stupid head. Don't think like that!" Sora furrowed his brows, trying to swallow that knot, but the stubborn bastard only seemed to get bigger as his eyes started welling with tears. He grabbed her cold hands and enclosed them in his.

"Yes I am. I could feel it. Yet, I feel so peaceful. Kyron, our Kyron. Take care of him; you'll take care of him, right?" Kairi's lavender eyes looked up at Sora's worried ocean blue ones.

"Of course I will, and you'll be there with me, Kairi."

He couldn't take it anymore. The tears started streaming down his face, blurring his vision of someone he might never be able to see again.

He wasn't able to understand anything his wife was saying. All he was able to see was her crystalline, lilac eyes, slowly growing duller and duller.

Kairi shook her head, "Sora, you know that I can't be there. But you'll be a good father, I know you will."

"Kairi. No, don't go. You can't do this to me."

A single tear fell out of her eyes. As if trying to ignore what he was saying, she said,

"Sora, tell me the story about how you proposed to me."

Sora licked his lips and tightened his grip around her hands.

"Well, it was after we finished high school," Sora started shakily. The knot was as tight as ever, causing his voice to come out in cracked fragments.

Kairi closed her eyes and whispered, "I'm listening."

"And you were going out with that one guy named, what was it, Tidus?"

Kairi didn't answer, but Sora hoped to God she had given a slight nod in acknowledgement and continued.

"Yes, it was Tidus. And whenever I saw you two together I got boiling mad, seriously!" Sora said with synthetic enthusiasm.

"I knew I wouldn't have a chance; you were so beautiful and I was just the poor guy who worked night shifts at the drug store next to your house." Sora waited for a response he knew would never come.

But still, he kept going on.

"And I always wanted to say, 'I love you' every time I saw you walk home. I never knew _you_ liked me as well. You don't know how happy I was when I found out you left Tidus. I took you as my own the very next day and soon, I proposed to you at the beach." Sora sighed, "and that's where we had our first kiss."

Sora gazed into the pale face of his wife.

"I love you," he whispered into her ear and then softly kissed her lips. She didn't say it back.

Riku was waiting where he was last time, his hands clenched together as if in prayer and feet nervously shaking.

He spotted Sora and quickly got up.

"How is she," he asked cautiously.

Sora looked at him with sad eyes and shook his head.

"She won't be coming out of those doors. Riku, she won't be coming back, ever."

Riku stared.

"What about your son?" he asked.

Suddenly, that knot in his throat seemed to melt cold water onto his hard and sent waves of hatred all over his body.

"Son?" he seemed to choke out.

"Sora, what's the matter with you? You and Kairi's son!"

"You mean that _thing _that murdered my wife? He's no son of mine." Sora spilled tears of anger now.

"I know you're upset, but that doesn't mean you have to put this out on the kid that you and Kairi had together." Riku tried to calm him down.

"But it's his fault that she died. It's entirely his fault. She died for his life. You know what I found out? She's been working at a fucking _grocery store_ to get enough money for him. That's why she's been so weak and stressed lately. She died for his life! SHE DIED!" Sora pushed Riku away and headed for the exit of the hospital.

"Sora! You have to take the kid! You're the father!" Riku stopped him.

He turned around. "I am no husband. I am no father. And I have no son."

And just like that, he left.


	2. Mommy's in heaven

Fatherless

By oathk33p3r

Revised: 070310

**Mommy's in Heaven**

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* * *

**

Frustrated, Riku ran his hand through his hair and took a deep breath. His best friend's wife was dead, and he refused to take his own child.

If Sora said "no", he meant "no". Riku knew too well that Sora will never take the child. There was no choice for him.

He looked down at the long hallway where the hospital kept the newborns. He exhaled and walked through the hallway and stopped in front of the glass windows where one can look at their new, red-faced baby.

He reluctantly went in and looked for Sora's child. It took him ages to go up and down the rows looking through the labels but he managed to find the label he was looking for.

**Name:** Not Available  
**Mother:** Kairi Wataya  
**Father:** unknown  
**Gender: **Male  
**Birth date: **September 8, 05 6:37 PM

Riku glanced at the baby. It was as though he was looking down at a miniature Sora. He had Sora's hair, chocolate brown, which covered most of his bald head. Even the baby's blank, innocent stare represented that of Sora. It was only those bright, violet eyes that told Riku that his mother was Kairi. As he was observing the baby, it slightly smiled, gurgling.

A nurse came by and saw Riku. Plastering one of those fake, friendly smiles, she walked up to him.

"He looks just like you! Are you his father?" She asked, her teeth gleaming white.

Riku only stared at the woman for a second as though she was mad. Then, he slowly began to see something. The label; it didn't say anything about the father. _His_ name can get rid of that blank. He could even avoid complicated adoption papers.

"Yes, yes I am," Riku said nervously.

"Wow, your wife must have had purple eyes then. They're really pretty. Is he your first born?"

"Yes he is." Riku's face began to fluster. He was a terrible liar.

"Well then, I must apologize about that label. I'll change it right away," she said as she clipped the label off the crib.

"Please fill this out," she added after handing him a few documentaries.

Nodding a silent goodbye, she walked away with the yellow, plastic label clutched between her hands.

Riku let out a sigh of relief and looked back at the baby. He had fallen asleep.

"Ok then, little man. I gotta give you a name. How about Ree? Cute, isn't it? Ree and Riku living together as a family," he said. Riku tucked in the little blanket over Ree's tiny feet and left, smiling a bittersweet smile.

He couldn't believe it; he was a father.

10 months later

Riku let out a sigh of exasperation as he looked around his house. It was in a bigger mess than usual. Used and fresh diapers were all in a big heap, rattles and balls were at every corner, and the dishes with leftovers crusted onto them were giving off an unpleasant smell. Raising a baby was harder than it looked. He had to work twice as much to keep his house, and powdered milk cost a lot of money.

Sighing yet again, he scooped up Ree and laid him on his back. The baby looked up at Riku with his crystalline, purple eyes as he started to change his diaper.

"Dah!" Ree cooed.

Riku smiled, but it soon faded away as the baby started to urinate. The warm yellow liquid squirted all over Riku's face.

"Argh! You little—that's it! I can't do this anymore!" Riku yelled in disgust as he stumbled through the jungle of trash to reach the phone in the kitchen. He had to dig it from underneath the moldy bread and then burrow through his drawers to find Sora's number. He finally punched in the numbers and held the receiver to his ear. It rang several times, and just as Riku was about to hang up, someone picked up and murmured a dry "hello."

Riku found himself shaking as he cleared his throat and said, "Sora, this is Riku."

Sora seemed to hold his breath, and Riku imagined him gripping onto his receiver with frustration.

"Don't hang up, Sora. Stop running away," Riku said, almost desperately. "I can't do this anymore. I've been taking care of your child for the past ten months. I'm a bachelor, and I'm planning to stay that way. I want you to take back your son-yours and Kairi's."

"I don't want to see that thing. Do whatever you want with him. Dump him at some orphanage, I don't care," Sora replied as he started to lower the phone.

"Sora, wait! What about Kairi, huh? Can't you do this for her? He's the only thing left of her!" Riku shouted, afraid this would be the last time Sora would answer any of his calls.

Only empty silence buzzed back for a few heartbeats. Riku thought he hung up until he made out the sound of heavy breathing.

"Listen Sora, I know you're there, so listen closely: I'll continue to take care of this kid, alright? But just think about it. You're gonna regret it later," Riku said.

He waited a bit longer to see if Sora was going to respond, but his friend said nothing. Giving up hope, Riku lowered the phone, hearing a faint voice right before he hung up.

"His name is Kyron."

Riku stared down at the phone for a while, musing over the realization that it's been nearly a year since he'd talked to Sora. Suddenly, he regretted not searching for Sora ealier. He should have tried convincing him to take Ree, no, Kyron as soon as he got out of the hospital. A demanding shriek beckoning to him intruded his thoughts, and Riku half-smiled as he walked over to the living room.

Kyron was sitting bare-bottomed on the floor poking at his diaper with clenched fists. He smiled when he recognized Riku, revealing two pairs of pink gums.

"What are you smiling at?" Riku couldn't help but chuckle.

"Doo dah dah!" Kyron threw his diaper at the shocked bachelor.

"Darn it! Why did you do that?" He threw the diaper in the garbage bag.

"Garg ah!" Kyron pointed his finger accusingly at Riku and started to curse in his own baby language.

"Enough of that, it's time for bed." Riku turned around to reach for a fresh pair of diapers, but the baby wasn't finished talking.

"Darn!" Kyron started to cry.

Riku looked back at him with wide eyes.

"What did you say, Kyron?"

"Darn!" He gestured to Riku to hold him.

Like a proud father, Riku picked him up and lightly tossed him in the air.

"That's my boy! You learned your first word! Now, say 'da da' " Riku smiled.

"Darn!" Kyron giggled.

"Never mind, don't say anything." Riku smirked and turned off the lights of the living room and headed off to the bedroom with the baby tucked in his arms.

4 years later

"Daddy!"

Riku looked up from the morning paper. Kryon stumbled up the porch and nearly tripped on his untied shoelaces as he reached for Riku.

"What's wrong?"

Kyron wiped his nose with the back of his hand, leaving a stream of mud across his face.

"The kids were laughing at me," he sniffled.

"Oh, come on. Here, sit on Daddy's lap and tell him what happened." Riku put down the paper and lifted Kyron onto his lap.

Kyron settled himself and held onto Riku's left hand with his two chubby ones.

"Jason, the one that lives next door, says I have girly eyes because they're purple and purple is a girl's color and his eyes are black and black is a boy's color but I said "No, because barney isn't girly and he's purple" but he laughed even more and then pushed me." He said in one breath, his snot running down his nose and into the edge of his mouth.

"You don't have girly eyes! In fact, they're beautiful and very unique, Kyron. Your mother had the same exact eyes as you." Riku's voice softened at the mentioning of his friend.

"Mommy? What else was she like?" Kyron's crying instnatly ceased.

"Your mother was a very nice person. She was also a princess."

"A princess! Like the ones that are saved by princes? Like in those books you read to me? What kind of princess?" His purple eyes grew wide.

"She was one of the Seven Princesses of Heart."

"Really? But if she's a princess, how come she's in heaven? Shouldn't she be in a castle?"

"Well…all princesses go to heaven sooner or later…Mommy just went sooner." Riku patted Kyron's head.

"But how?" Kyron's voice got quieter.

Riku pulled at his collar, not knowing how to put this in words understandable to a near 5-year-old.

"Well, she died."

The words tumbled out like pebbles. Blunt and precise.

Kyron blinked furrowed his small brows. Confusion was written all over his face as he peered at Riku for answers.

"She did? But I thought she went to heaven."

Fat tears rolled down his cheeks.

"Well, heaven is where people go after they die," Riku said, slightly exasperated by himself.

"But, why?" Kyron wiped away his tears.

Riku remained silent.

"She died so that you could be here. Here in this world with me, your friends, and all your favorite toys," he finally said with a small smile. "She died so you could live."


	3. Kindergarten

E.D.I.T.E.D

**Kindergarten**

Kyron fell silent. "So, is it my fault that she's not with us?"

Riku closed his eyes, thinking of what to say. It wasn't what _would_ he say, it was what _can _he say. Running a hand briefly through his hair, he opened his eyes again and gently looked at his friend's song.

"It's not your fault," Riku finally managed to say. "You just came out a bit too early, but it wasn't your fault. Don't worry." Riku ruffled his hair.

For the third time, tears started to fall. "No, it is my fault. Daddy, are you mad at me? Are you mad at me for killing Mommy? Do you _hate _me?" Kyron hiccupped.

"Of course I don't hate you. You're my son!" Riku felt a pang of guilt as he smiled down at the little kid.

"I love you, Daddy." Kyron wrapped his puny arms around Riku's middle.

Surprised, he looked down at him, and felt the pang of guilt tugging even harder. He couldn't do this to the kid- if he continued living as his "dad", it'll get harder to tell him the truth when he gets older. Riku had to tell him. When? Right now.

"Um, Kyron?" Riku looked into the eyes of Kryon. For a second, he thought he was looking down at Kairi.

"Yeah, Daddy?" Kyron smiled.

"I uh-I have to tell you something very important." Riku cleared his throat.

"Is it really important? About Mommy?" Kyron got excited.

Riku couldn't do it. It'll break his little pitiful heart. He was already under much depression. How could he add on the weight?

"Yes. And since it's very important, Daddy will tell you later when you're older, ok?"

"Ok! Cross my heart!" Kyron crossed his chest with his little fingers.

Riku smiled and placed Kyron on the floor.

"I'll be right back. Gotta go make a phone call," He got up from the swinging bench in the porch and walked into the house. Kyron watched Riku go and scrambled back up on the swinging bench.

Riku picked up the phone and dialed a place he hadn't call for almost five years.

"Hello?" A voice answered.

"This is Riku." Riku said slowly.

He was answered with silence, but he was able to hear the breathing on the other end.

"Sora? This is you, right?" Riku wanted to make sure.

"No, this isn't him. Bye" The person on the other end hung up.

"Sora! Don't hang up! I know it's you!" Riku quickly redialed and waited, but he had unplugged the phone.

Riku sighed and put the receiver back in place.

Grabbing a muffin from the kitchen, he went back outside. The swinging bench was unsurprisingly occupied and Kyron was sound asleep on it.

Riku smiled and stuffed the muffin in his mouth. Then, he picked Kryon's small body and walked towards his room. Placing the Kryon on his little, blue bed, Riku knelt next to him and looked at him with sad eyes.

"Kyron, I really want to tell you this, but it'll break your heart. I'm not your dad," Riku wiped away a tear drop that seemed to have come out of nowhere.

Kyron replied with a silent snore.

Riku watched him for a while, then got up and went to his own room.

Another year later…

"Ok, Kyron! It's time for school!" Riku jerked the little sky-blue blanket covering the small body of a little five-year-old. His hair was messier than ever and his lilac eyes were filled with drowsiness.

"Dad, give them back!" Kyron got up and rubbed his eyes.

"Nuh uh. It's first day of school! And we gotta go early so I could get to work on time," Riku said brightly, "And you're also turning five today, remember?"

Kyron's half-closed eyes snapped open all the way and he grinned ear to ear.

"It's my birthday again!" Kyron giggle and climbed off his bed.

A smile still playing on his face, Kyron pulled his night clothes off and changed into the clothes his father set out for him.

"Come to the kitchen after you're done." Riku said before he left the door.

Kyron went to the kitchen, waiting to smell something delicious, but there was nothing.

"Sorry, Kyron. Cereal is on the menu today." Riku placed down two bowls of watery cereal.

"Ok." Kyron lifted himself to a chair and started to munch on his cold breakfast.

Seeing Kyron's gloomy face, Riku tried to cheer him up. "Kindergarten is great! You'll make so many friends! And after school's over, we can go to the toy store and get you anything you want."

"Really?" Kyron's face brightened.

"Cross my heart." Riku teased.

"OK!" He gulped down the rest of his cereal and practically dragged Riku to the car.

The ride to school seemed like forever to the new kindergartener itching to get on with the day. When the beige school finally loomed from the distance, Kyron hastily took off his seatbelt. Riku parked by the edge of the school and faced Kyron.

"Have a good day at school!" He ruffled Kyron's hair.

"I'll be back at 1:00. After that, we'll get you your birthday present," Riku smiled.

"Ok, Daddy! Bye bye!" Kyron jumped out of the car and waved goodbye.

Riku drove away, leaving Kyron alone for the first time in his life.

Kyron faced the school towering over him. A small flag of the nation was lazily waving in the September wind. He shifted his backpack and looked around for room four. He found it surrounded by a wire fence.

Kyron nervously looked around. Outside the blue door was a long line of kids his age. He had never seen so many kids in one place. A plump woman was at the head of the line and sliding a jingling key into the keyhole. She pushed it open and everybody filed into the small classroom.

In the center of the classroom was a colorful mat. Little flowerpots with plants in them were lined up against the windows and the alphabet was taped onto the beige walls. The woman was going through the line and asking for the names of each kid, then pointing at a square on the colorful mat.

"Hello, young man, what is your name?" The woman asked Kyron, who was now the only one standing in line.

"Kyron." He said shyly.

"Well, Kyron. Today is the first day of school. Why don't you sit over there on the empty purple square?" She smiled and put a nametag on his shirt.

Kyron found the only empty square and squeezed between a girl with piggy tails and a fat, bald boy.

"HI! MY NAME IS STELLA! SEE? LOOK AT MY NAMETAG!" the girl named Stella pointed at her nametag. Her piggy tails seemed alive and were waving about.

Kyron smiled.

"And I'm Bob." The bald kid said.

"I'm Kyron." Kyron smiled.

Kindergarten actually seemed ok.

The rest of the day passed by with many songs and glasses of milk. They made their own little name tags and Kyron learned that his teacher's name was Mrs. Garza. Riku had already taught Kyron how to read time and he was able to see that there were five more minutes till school was out.

"Well, class. The day has already gone by and it's time that we go home." The teacher said sadly.

There were many no's and a few yes's.

"However, we have a full day ahead of us! See you tomorrow kids!"

"Yay!" Everybody ran out the open door as they heard the school bell ring through the school.

Outside, parents were all waiting for their kids.

Kyron smiled and searched for his dad's face.

"Mommy, it was so fun! We made butterflies and stuff!" the girl named Stella was telling her parents about the day.

"Daddy!" He called out.

Nobody looked his way. He didn't see any familiar silver haired man.

"Maybe it's not 1:00 yet." Kyron said to himself.

He sat down on the steps to the school and waited. He looked at everybody with envy as they walked hand in hand with their parents.

"How was kindergarten, sweetie?" a woman was saying to her son.

"It was ok, but I don't like the teacher much." The son replied.

Kyron overheard many other conversations. Soon, the crowd thinned and he was the only one left. Letting out a sigh, he sat by the stairs and thrust his head up to the clouds.

"Mommy? This is Kyron. I know you're in heaven right now and I hope that you like it there. Daddy's really nice to me. He's the bestest Daddy in the whole entire world! I really wish you were here though…I never seen you before." Kyron sniffled and wiped his nose with the back of his arm.

"Will you ever come down here to see me? Or can I see you someday? Well, I really do wish you could come so that we could be a happy family. Daddy's not here right now, but I'm sure he'll be here soon." Kyron smiled.

The little kid continued talking to his mother.

Riku had to work harder than usual now. The kid was growing up and ate more food and needed more things. The school supplies reduced half of his savings.

"Darn it. He let me out too late." Riku checked his watch and dodged cars to the school.

He came upon a traffic light and stopped.

"Come on, come on. My son is waiting." Riku said frustrated as he drummed his fingertips on the steering wheel.

Faint siren and cars screeching was heard.

Riku thought nothing of it continued to tap his wheel. That's when a car rounded the corner and crashed.

Riku found himself in a red daze, and then he was lost in the dark.


	4. Orphan

E.D.I.T.E.D

**Orphan**

Kyron stared at his feet, shivering from the cold breeze. He didn't have a watch with him, but he was sure that it passed 1 o' clock. The moon was out and the sun was long gone. He was thinking of walking home, but what if Riku came right after he left?

"Daddy, how come you're not coming?" Kyron's blue lips trembled and he looked down the street. Every so often, a car went by, but none of them belonged to his beloved father.

"You lied. You crossed your heart that you'll come by 1 o' clock. I wanna go home." Kyron's tears rolled off his nose and splattered onto the paved road.

"Well, it's way past bedtime…I'm gonna go to sleep, ok Daddy?" Kyron wiped his nose on his sleeve and made a pillow out of his backpack and lied down on the steps of the school, feeling like the only living being in this empty world. This was definitely not one of his best birthdays…

The doors to the emergency room burst open and a stretcher was quickly rolled in. There were about six nurses around the broken body, each doing their part to help the man live.

"Out of the way!"

They pushed the stretchers on wheels into a room and started to operate on him immediately. He's been in a severe car accident and it was most likely that he was not going to survive. He had crashed his skull on his wheel and a shard of glass had slit his windpipe, causing him to choke on his own blood.

The face of the man was covered with cuts and bruises, his face smeared with crimson liquid.

The screen that showed the heartbeats were slowing down.

"Hurry! We're losing him!" The nurses shouted to one another.

It was very intense; his heartbeat was getting slower and weaker, until there was no more.

_beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep_

_And that's how I lost my father, my only relative. I remember how men in black were talking to me; talking about my dad. Now I'm never going to see him again. I didn't cry that night, or the night after._

Kyron sighed and poked his blob of food with a dirty plastic fork.

"Hurry up, you sons of –_beeps- _I don't get paid to watch you guys chew!" The supervisor of the cafeteria rapped his spatula on a boy's tray.

_I'm currently living in an all boys' orphanage. Nobody wanted to adopt me._

Kyron rolled his eyes at the ugly man and pushed his food away and stood up, ready to go to his dormitory. Everybody else did the same.

_I guess it was because the look I gave them every time the glanced my way._

Deep in thought, Kyron trudged along the aisles of benches. That's when he was knocked down to the floor.

"Hurry up, you girly eyed squirt!" One of the meaner boys shoved him in the ribs.

He knew better than to talk back, so Kyron quickly stood up and ran the rest of the way.

Kyron climbed up to his bunk and fell back onto his grimy pillow. He rubbed his eyes. He personally didn't like them. Every body called him 'Girly Eyes'.

"Yo, Girly Eyes!"

Kyron glanced up from his bed and saw his only friend holding something wrapped in a napkin.

"Hey, Rod!" Kyron smiled and climbed down to greet him.

"I snuck in some chips. Here, take some." Rod poured stale, crunched up chips into Kyron's opened palms.

"Thanks, I owe you one." Kyron munched on them hungrily.

"So, when do you think we're actually gonna do it?" Rod sat down on an upside down bucket.

"What?"

"Remember? Our escape plan?" Rod gulped down his chips right away.

"Oh, right. I don't know…don't you think it's a bit risky?"

"Breathing here is risky! Don't you get it? Have you ever been to a Co-ed school? Have you been to one of those theme parks? Have you ever "owned" anything?" Rod tried to get some common sense into his friend.

"Yes, and I miss it…" Kyron looked down at his hands. "I miss everything; especially my family."

"Pfft! Who needs them? It's their fault we're here in the first place."

Rod had been abandoned and left on the doorstep when he was just a newborn.

"It's not like that. My parents died, remember?"

"Would you die if you had children? I don't think so. It's their fault for dying. Anyways I-"

"RODEN AND KYRON! YOU SHOULD BE IN BED!" The door slammed open and the owner of the orphanage glared at them with hatred.

"It's not lights out yet!" Rod, being the one with the guts, yelled at her.

"You two are nothing but orphans. Without the kindness of my heart to keep you filths under a roof with clothing and food, you'll be living on the streets, you hear? Now shut up and go to bed!" She slammed the door and they heard her heavy footsteps die away.

"We better do as she said." Kyron climbed back on his bunk.

"I guess you're right. Anyways, we have school starting tomorrow again. Wonder who the teacher will be this year." Rod yawned and climbed in bed under Kyron's.

"Lights out!" Everything was dark, except the dim light pouring down from a small window.

"Hey, Rod," Kyron whispered.

"Hmm?"

"Is it true? Are we nothing but "orphans"?"

"Yes, we're nothing but orphans. What else could we be?"

Kyron didn't answer him and looked at the ceiling. A lonely spider was silently weaving in and out of its web.

"Dad, why did you lie to me? You shouldn't have done that. That day you died. That day you left me..." Kyron cried for the first time since Riku had left him.

"You said you'd be back by 1 o' clock…you did. It's been 10 years now." Kyron quickly wiped away the tears.

"Well, at least you're happy. You're with mom now."

A shoe came flying out of nowhere and hit him square in the head.

"Shut up!"

Kyron pulled the thin covers over his messy locks and silently cried himself to sleep.


	5. The Truth

E.D.I.T.E.D

**The Truth**

_Bang bang bang bang!_

The boy who had the pans today banged them together.

"Wake up you guys!"

Everybody slowly peeled their eyes open and covered their heads with their sheets to avoid the annoying pans.

"Come on! If you guys don't wake up, I'm the one that gets the blame!" He threw down the pans and defiantly placed his hands on his hips. He was about the age of ten.

"Oh, calm down Shorty." Rod yawned.

"Don't call me that, it's Shad," Shad pouted.

"Ok, whatever Shorty. Just shut up, would ya?" Rod stuffed his socked feet into his large boots.

Kyron blinked his eyes open and looked around. It was first day of school. An ache came to him. First day of school, the day he hated the most. Come to think of it, he had turned fifteen just yesterday. Of course, nobody _cared_ about birthdays under this roof. He hadn't celebrated his birthday since Riku died.

"What kind of name is 'Shad' anyways?" One of the boys asked his bunkmate.

"I heard that!" Shad shouted.

"Hey Kyron, you awake?" Rod popped his head up to see his friend.

"Yeah, sure," Kyron sat up and jumped off the bunk.

"Heard we're having a new teacher. He's from far away, moved in just a week ago," Rod said as he stuffed his beanie on his head.

Kyron couldn't help smiling. "How could you find all this out right now?"

Rod hit the wall. "Hello? The walls are made out of _cardboard._"

"Well, not exactly. It's just flimsy wood."

"Psh, don't get all technical with me. Anyways, hurry up; we're gonna be late." Rod moved his blonde bangs out of his eyes.

His hair had grown pretty long, almost as long as Kyron's. Kyron didn't know his hair looked just like his true father's when he was his age.

"We have 2 minutes!" Shad called out.

Everybody quickly dashed out of the cramped room and piled into the small spaced room across the hallway. They quickly filled up the seats, each one of them trying to avoid the front. Rod grabbed a seat in the middle row and Kyron sat right behind him.

The teacher wasn't here yet so everybody started to talk to each other about whatever there was to talk about.

Rod turned around on his seat.

"I heard he's pretty young too."

"You mean younger than sixty, right?" Kyron smirked.

All the past teachers were old retired teachers.

"Yeah. Not even fifty."

"Wow, that is young," Kyron looked surprised.

As if it was some alarm, everybody instantly hushed as the door slid open. A man in his late 30's or early 40's walked in. His ocean blue eyes scanned the class. Everybody stared intently at him. If the owner of the place knew they misbehaved, it was no food and three miles.

As soon as Rod got a good look of the new teacher, his mouth fell open. One by one, each boy's eyes grew wide in realization.

The teacher nervously looked at them.

"Um…hi?" He backed towards the chalkboard.

Kyron stared at the teacher also.

"He looks just like you, Kyron." Rod whispered.

"Ok, let's get started class." The new teacher rubbed his hands together.

"Just call me Mr. W. You don't have to know my name."

Mr. W. picked up a chalk and wrote down his initials on the chipped black board.

"We're going to review this week, so the more you remember, the faster we could head onto 10th grade stuff."

Mr. W. smiled and turned to his students.

"First of all, I'll have to learn your names; starting from this gentleman right here."

He pointed at the nerd that everybody picked on.

"My name's Peiter, spelled P-E-I-T-E-R and pronounced Peter," said Peiter.

"That's nice. Go on everybody."

Each one of them told them their names. The owner was too cheap to bother having attendance sheets. Nobody was allowed to get "sick" or runaway, so there was no chance that anybody will be absent.

"Rode-in, R-O-D-E-N, but call me Rod, everybody does," Rod replied.

"Nice to meet you, Rod," Mr. W. then looked at Kyron and his bright smile faded and his eyes widened in shock.

"Um, my name's Ky-"

Mr. W. held out his hand to silence him.

"No, don't tell me your name. Please, excuse me class. I gotta go uh…urinate," He missed the door and too four tries until he was about to run out the door.

Everybody was silent for a while until one person broke the silence. Then everybody started to talk at once. They all crowded around Kyron.

"Hey, Girly Eyes! Did you see that dude? Man, he looked just like you!"

"What's your last name Kyron?"

"Are you guys related or something?"

"You're stepping on my glasses, guys!"

"Shut up Pee-er."

"It's PEITER."

Everything was a blur in Kyron's eyes. He didn't understand anything the others were saying. Who was that man? He didn't have an uncle or anything and he couldn't be his dad. _Riku_ was his father…

"Hey! Just leave him alone!" Rod, knowing that this was serious, pushed everybody away.

"Oh, are you his daddy? Aww, how sweet," Everybody started to laugh.

"Shut up," Rod yelled at them, his amber eyes glaring at them with hatred.

"Calm down, Rod; it's no big deal. We just looked similar, that's all."

"No, it is a big deal! Did you see him? He looked_ just_ like you; and did you see his expression? He knows something that you don't. That's why he freaked out!" Rod shook Kyron's shoulders.

"Don't you get it? He can be _family,_" Rod violently sat back on his seat.

"What? I thought you didn't care about family."

"Just forget it. We have to get back to work," Rod took his beanie off and rested his head on his arms.

Kyron looked at him suspiciously. Rod didn't use the word _family_ that much and never really cared about anything…

Mr. W, or Sora, splashed water in his face from the sink water. His brown strands clung to his forehead.

"This can't be. That can't be, I mean, COME ON!" He yelled and slammed his fist on the side of the sink.

"Why'd you give him up, Riku? You better take him back," he looked in the mirror.

Two weary blue eyes looked exhaustedly back at him.

He was scared, he really was. He didn't know what to do. Regretting what he did to his son, he decided to teach at an orphanage; he didn't think he would meet him here.

Sora sighed. He had no other choice.

"Anyways, he might not be him, yeah."

Feeling better, Sora turned off the running water and somewhat confidently went back to the class.

He looked straight ahead, afraid to look at those eyes; those eyes that had been long gone for fifteen years until now. Throughout the whole day, Sora acted as if the boy named 'Kyron' that _kind of _looked like him, wasn't there. Finally, it was over and he immediately dialed Riku's number. This was the first time in years he had called him.

Nobody answered.

"What the, he would have told me if he moved away." Sora exhaled and grabbed the car keys. He was going to go there himself.

Sora parked his car in front of a shabby gray house.

"He better not be on drugs," Sora grumbled as he went up the rickety stairs and rang the doorbell. It was broken. He knocked and caused a hole in the door.

"Darn it," Sora, frustrated, kicked down the door.

As if the door didn't weigh anything, it flopped down and revealed the inside of the house. It looked the same as the outside; gray and empty.

"What happened?" He asked himself as he stepped in and slipped on a pile of letters.

"The mailman," he muttered. He stood back up and continued to walk deeper in the house. But a rather large, dusty package caught his eyes.

He picked up the big envelope. To his surprise, his son's name was the first thing he saw.

To: Kyron   
_From: Daddy_

Sora opened it. A letter and a photo in a frame came out. He read the letter:

_Dear Kyron,_

_How was your first day of school? Now that you're in kindergarten, I'm sure you could read this too. Here's a picture of your mother. I've been keeping it to give to you. There's also something I wanted to tell you. The picture of the big boy with the brown hair is your real father. I'm sorry to tell you this, but it's true. I adopted you. Please forgive me._

_Love,_

_Daddy_

_PS. Happy Birthday, son. _

Sora looked at the picture. It was a photo of Kairi; no, Kairi, Riku, and him. Riku was going to tell him the truth. But, how come the letter was still here? And why was the house empty?

That's when another letter caught his eye. It was from the hospital.

_To: The Family of Riku Itani_

From: Kingdom Hospital

_Dear Mr. Itani's family,_

_We are sorry to inform you that Mr. Itani had passed away in a car accident. If you do not return this letter, we would be having the funeral ready by our volunteers. He would be laid in the _Kingdom Hospital _graveyard. Again, we are terribly sorry._

_Sincerely,_

_Doctor Manda Crusa_

Sora dropped the letter. Stunned, he stumbled on to his knees and his hands started to shake. He grabbed the letters and the picture and ran to his car with them. He found the address on the back of the envelope and found that Kingdom Hospital was close by. After a couple minutes, the hospital came into view. That's when he realized it was where Kyron was born.

Sora parked his car and searched for the graveyard. He found the gates and went in. He wasn't going to believe what the letter said until he actually saw it with his own eyes.

He passed by until he saw the words: Here lies Ri

Sora kneeled down and slowly wiped away the dirt that covered the gravestone. He didn't want to know the truth. Truth hurts too much for him now.

Tears started to fall as he uncovered the rest of his friend's name:

**Here lies Riku Itani**

**A father and a friend.**

**1985-2014**

"You idiot," Sora punched the soft earth and wept.

"Why'd you have to die too?" Sora leaned against the stone until his eyes filled with hatred.

"IT'S YOUR FAULT KYRON! BECAUSE OF YOU, RIKU DIED TOO!" Sora got up and kicked the grass.

"It's your fault. If you weren't born, he would still be here, and Kairi too." It was too much. The fact that because of this _boy _two people he loved died.

"So, it _was_ him. That boy named Kyron really was him."

It was the first time he had actually seen his son.

"He had Kairi's eyes. What a waste for the eyes to belong to a murderer that didn't even reach adult hood," Sora ran his fingers through his hair.

Then, he looked back at Riku's grave.

"Hey Riku. Nice to see you…it's been a long time," Sora smiled through his tears.

"Remember how we used to go against you? Three to one? You always won. It's hard to believe that such a strong person like you would die from a little car accident. But then again, little things can also mean disaster." Sora thought back when the baby was first born, how Kairi died because of him.

"Sorry Riku. I didn't' know you were gone. What kind of friend am I?" Sora wiped away his tears.

"Well then, see you next year," Sora whispered a goodbye and left the graveyard.


	6. Running Away

E.D.I.T.E.D

**Running Away**

"Hey Kyron, I'll be right back. I have to give my late homework to Mr. W." Rod held up a crumpled piece of paper that was supposedly his homework.

Kyron nodded, "See ya later then."

Rod walked down the long endless hallways. They were better kept than the dormitories. He scanned through the room numbers until he found Mr. W's office.

He knocked the well-polished wooden door. There was no answer.

"Um, teacher? I brought my homework," Rod called through the door.

There was still no response, but he was desperate. Rod looked around to make sure nobody was looking and turned the knob of the door and pushed it in.

He looked around and was surprised to see how small it was. The desk was jammed into the corner and had all sorts of junk and paper on it.

Rod walked over to it and searched for a spot to place his assignment so it'll stand out. As he was looking, he found one of those large manila envelopes.

Thinking it was empty, he opened it to put his paper in, but something slid out. It was a letter.

Rod glanced down at it and saw his friend's name. He picked it up with guilt and opened the already-opened-envelope. He read the horrible truth.

Heart racing, he quickly threw his homework in the enormous pile of junk and dashed to his dormitory.

Rod took a big sigh and lied back on his lumpy bed. He didn't bother taking off his shoes; he was going to be leaving in a while anyway.

The lights were out about an hour ago, but it was still too soon. Soft snoring came from above him. Kyron was already sleeping. From the small window, Rod was able to see the car headlights passing by.

Finally, Rod was able to feel the silence of the sleeping bodies and got up. He poked his head up Kyron's bunk and nudged the sleeping boy.

"Kyron, wake up," Rod whispered.

Kyron flinched and fluttered his eyes open.

"Huh? Is that you Rod? What's wrong?" Kyron yawned, ready to go back to sleep.

"We're gonna run away. Now," Rod said firmly, but quietly.

Kyron, hearing the words of escape, turned wide-awake.

"What? You mean right now or right, right now?" Kyron was getting excited.

"Right, right now. So move that butt of yours and hurry up." Rod's head disappeared below.

Kyron sat up and looked around. He never stayed up this late before. It was about nine o' clock. They were put to bed at eight. Kyron grabbed his few belongings and climbed down the ladder and jumped onto the floor.

Rod was already prepared to leave. He was wearing his only clothes and had a knapsack of what seemed to be full of food.

"How are we going to leave?" Kyron whispered.

Rod pointed at the little window that shed some of the moonlight.

"That?"

Rod nodded. He walked over to the window and slowly opened it. He had unscrewed it after lunch. That was him, always prepared.

"Hurry up, get out." He threw out his knapsack out of the little opening.

Kyron did the same.

"What if we get caught?"

"Shut up! We have to be quick!" Rod hissed as he jumped out.

Kyron hesitated and looked around. Everybody was still sleeping. He looked out the window; the door to freedom.

"Hurry up! What are you standing there for?" Rod yelled, irritated.

Kyron quickly jumped out as well and landed on all fours.

"Come on, before they wake up." They grabbed their belongings and started to run.

They were getting closer to the gates-until a flashlight beamed out of no where.

"Well, wel,l well, what have we got here."

It was the phrase that the bad guys always said.

Rod winced and slowly looked behind his back to see who it was.

It was the owner of the orphanage, still in her nightgown and nightcap.

She chuckled. "You two little worms didn't know I had cameras, eh? I'm not as poor as you think."

She stepped closer to them.

"Don't try running away. You'll get caught no matter what. Anyways, if you do run away, you'll be running to death. You don't know the city." She sat down on the cold night floor.

"Go ahead. Try running." She smiled, or rather, showed her coffee-stained teeth.

Kyron slowly started towards the gate, but Rod was smarter than that. He heard a slight click. He knew that click too well.

"KYRON, NO!"

Rod knocked him to the floor and heard the gun shot. He felt a horrible sting on his arm but ignored it. They had to run.

The two fifteen-year-olds ran and squeezed through the gate. Luckily, she had dropped the flashlight and couldn't see them.

They continued running until they were a good distance away from their prison.

"Thanks Rod. I owe you another one," Kyron said, breathing heavily.

Rod didn't answer. He was on his knees, grasping his trembling arm.

Kyron saw him and knelt next to him.

"What happened?" Kyron gasped.

Rod looked at him; his usually clear eyes were cloudy.

"I-I got shot."


	7. The Others

E.D.I.T.E.D

**The Others**

Kyron bent over his wounded friend. He didn't know what to do. A small puddle of crimson blood was forming around the arm.

Behind him, Kyron heard faint scratching noise; many of them.

That's when dark, black creatures came out from the ground, wobbling around them with yellow orbs for eyes. One of them scratched Rod while one of the bigger ones picked him up and threw him on the ground.

More of these creatures were coming. They were all heading towards Rod, but not him. Rod was obviously scared; he's never seen creatures like these before.

He looked at Kyron with a look that gave you an ache deep inside.

"Please, stop," He choked, coughing up vomit.

As if the dark creatures were laughing at Rod's plea, they unsheathed their claws.

He looked over at Kyron, begging for help with his eyes. The creatures were only inches away from tearing open his chest.

"Stop it!" Kyron threw a stone at one of the creatures.

"Heh heh heh, and what if they don't?" A tall man stepped out of the darkness, looking at them with crimson eyes.

The man gave a look at the creatures. As if they were given an order, they slashed his chest Rod's chest.

Rod moaned, his brown eyes getting cloudier and dark blood slid out of the side of his mouth.

Kyron tried not to show his emotions. He glared at the eyes of the man and started to charge towards him.

Taken by surprise, he fell on his rear as Kyron head butt his stomach. Kyron rubbed his head from the pain.

In anger and embarrassment, he pointed straight at Kyron's chest. Millions of yellow eyes turned towards him.

Kyron quickly searched for Rod and saw him lying helplessly on the ground;

is time was running out.

The swarm of dark creatures crawled to him, their antennas twitching and claws shining.

It was all over. He was going to die. One of them jumped at him and scratched his face.

The last thing he saw was a blinding flash of white light and a gunshot. Then, he was swallowed by utter darkness.

Kyron moaned as he slowly came back around. He kept his eyes closed, afraid to see what would happen next. He was able to hear hushed whispers and felt rather comfortable on whatever he was lying on. Assuring himself that it was alright, he peeled his eyes open.

"He's alive, Squall," A female voice said stiffly.

Kyron blinked his eyes to clear his sight, but realized the room was just too dark. But a breeze told him he wasn't in a closed building.

"Where am I?" He tried to get up, but a horrible pang in his chest stopped him.

"Don't move!" The female voice yelled.

Kyron, startled, jumped to his feet instinctively and groaned in pain.

"What's wrong with you?" A dagger came whizzing by and hit the wall right next to his face.

The owner of the female voice stepped out of the dark shadows. Kyron was accustomed to the darkness now and was able to see a female figure.

"Don't move," She repeated, "you're still healing."

She came over and yanked the dagger out of the wall, which was rotting away. She was much shorter than him.

"Who are you, little girl?"

The result was a slap in the face.

"I'm not a little!" She switched on a dirty flashlight.

Kyron was able to see that they were in some kind of old abandoned warehouse.

"I'm probably much older than you, being eighteen. Anyways, what were you doing out there dealing with that many heartless? They almost had yours," she said in her monotone voice as she pocketed her dagger in her sandal.

"Had what? And what's heartless? And what is this place? And, OH MY GOSH! WHERE'S ROD! OH MY GOSH! I LOST HIM NO!" Kyron panicked and started to pull his hair.

"I lost him! ROD! ROOOOOOD!" He sat back down on the mattress he was recently sleeping on and wept.

The girl stared at him.

"Um, are you lost, boy?" She bent over him.

"The name's Kyron," He said, grumpily.

"Ok, Kyron. Let's start from the beginning. Were you drunk?" She said slowly and clearly.

Kyron stared at her with horror. "No! I'm barely fifteen!"

"Calm down. Then why were you in the alley way?"

"I was running away," He said boldly.

She stared at him harder as if she can squeeze all the truth out of him.

"You were running away? Why in the world do you think you could survive out here? And who is this "Rod" you're moping about? Were you running away with him?"

"Yes…" He looked at the girl's dark, gray eyes. Her hair was choppy and black and her clothes looked like it was all she had.

"It must be that injured guy," She said mostly to herself.

"He's here? Where? Show me!" He got to his feet, ignoring his pain in the chest.

"Sorry, but I can't."

"What do you mean?"

"I can't," She repeated flatly and looked away.

Silence swept through the room to replace the conversation.

"He was weak," A male's voice broke the silence.

Kyron was able to make out a cloaked figure standing up from a corner and walking towards him. He took off his hood. His hair was messy and dark brown and a scar crawled across his face.

"He's the one that saved you. Kyron, this is Squall."

The girl walked next to the man named Squall.

"What do you mean he was weak?" Kyron was obviously not getting it.

"We left him. It was too late. It's no use keeping a body without a heart," Squall mumbled.

Kyron's throat went dry and his heart seemed to have stopped pumping blood to his brain. His one and only friend…gone?

"No, he's not gone. We just barely started running away!"

"And where in the world do you think you'll be going once you've escaped?" Squall crossed his arms over his chest.

Kyron went silent. Tears began to spill over his dirty face.

"He died saving me." Kyron wiped away his tears with his sleeve.

"If only I wasn't so stupid…if only. That's the third person that left me. All those people that I've actually cared about. They all died, because of me." Kyron crumbled to the floor and wept.

"Man, you need to put this together. It's our job to save people from the heartless and we've seen much worse," Squall said. Something in his voice told Kyron that he didn't care.

"You don't know how it feels. How could you say that."

Kyron didn't like this guy; even though he had saved him.

"Oh no, I do know how it feels. That's why I'm here."

Squall put his hood back up and left the warehouse. He was such a mysterious person.

The girl looked at Kyron's lavender-blue eyes.

"Guess I have to tell you what heartless are," she said with an exasperated sigh.

"They were all once people," she started, "but with all the dark things they were hearing and saying, their hearts stepped into the darkness. They started to steal other hearts for their own greedy selves. Of course, they don't do anything with them. They just want others to suffer too. A man named Ansem is their leader. He was once a researcher, but researching them too much turned him into a heartless as well. They mostly appear around wounded people, like your friend. Most of the time, people become an empty shell once the heartless find them. You were saved by pure luck. But Squall was right; you really are weak, both physically and emotionally. Now get some rest." The girl stood up and started to walk towards her corner of the room.

"Wait! What's your name?" Kyron shouted.

The girl paused, but didn't look back.

"I have no name. Just call me "Thing", for that's what everybody had ever called me. Good night."


	8. Sacrifice

E.D.I.T.E.D

**Sacrifice**

Sora rolled over on his side. The moon beamed on his pillow, as if trying to keep him awake. He heard that there were two runaways and the owner was gone. Of course, it wasn't his problem. But he couldn't help thinking it was Kyron. He still didn't consider him his son, but it was strange. He felt guilty for no reason these days.

He stayed silent for a while. But the silence seemed to be nudging him off his bed. Finally, he slid off the dingy mattress and walked along the cold floor with his bare feet, sending chills down his back. The room didn't have enough fresh air for him.

He went out towards the back gate and saw a big lump on the floor. He squint his eyes to see through the dark, night air and saw the lump move.

"Hello there! Can you hear me?" He shouted.

"Get over here you fool!" grunted the old hag.

Sora rolled his eyes. He should just leave her there. He didn't favor her too much, but she did give him a fair salary.

He ran over to the owner and knelt down.

"Darn, I shot my own leg! Those two useless cockroaches! It's their fault!" She grabbed onto Sora's neck.

"Oh, my dear boy, you're such a sweet tart!" She wobbled up. That was her, the mood-swinger.

Sora grabbed the flashlight on the floor and replaced the fallen batteries. Switching it on, he beamed it on her cut. It was only a minor injury.

"Good thing it didn't hit anybody else." Sora smiled.

"What do you mean 'good thing?' I MISSED! Those two sly dogs! They got away!" She yelled at Sora as if it was his fault.

"That Roden and Kyron; always together. Drat them!" She muttered to herself.

Sora froze.

"Whatcha doing, boy? Help me go back to call the ambulance!" She whacked him upside the head.

"So-sorry, but I gotta go." Sora dropped the witch.

"HEY YOU JACK DONKEY! Get your little butt over here!" She yelled after him.

Sora ignored her and continued to sprint down the long street. He had no idea where he was going, but that didn't seem important at that moment. Kairi's son was in danger.

A single raindrop splattered on his head. Soon, one after another, rain started to pour.

"I'm so sorry, Kairi. I broke my promise. I'm so sorry…" Sora cried, the tears getting washed away from the rain.

"That useless bean! Thinking only of himself!" The owner lied there, miserable in the rain.

In between the platter from the rain, she heard a faint scratching noise. She didn't give a care at first, but soon, she was beginning to feel sick.

"Ech, the rain's making me wanna puke," She muttered.

That's when they jumped.

Hundreds of dark creatures with yellow glowing eyes appeared out of the rain and clung on to her nightgown.

"What the-" She grabbed her gun and shot at them. It merely went through them, causing them to dissolve in the rain puddles and appear yet again.

The owner of the all-boy orphanage was a tough woman, but this was too much.

"Back off you nasty insects!" She yelled and thrashed around. She continuously shot at these strange creatures until she was down to her last bullet. The gun was now useless and more of them were appearing by the second.

Her throat tasted bitter and her chest began to ache.

"What in the blazing is going on?" By now, these creatures were all scratching, biting, clawing, and kicking her. The last and final thing she saw was a pair of yellow eyes looking into hers.

Kyron arose with the sound of raindrops bouncing off the weak roof.

Confused, he slowly sat up and blindly touched around. The voice in the darkness is what got his brain working again.

"You awake?"

"Yeah."

Kyron rubbed his face, trying to push the sleep away from him. The lights from the street shone through the window, making mysterious patterns on the concrete floor from the rain.

"Um…Thing?"

"Hmm?" She was in the corner, sharpening her daggers.

"Why don't you have a name?" Kyron asked, getting off the mattress and walking towards her. His chest felt lighter and better. He looked down and realized the gash was completely gone. Amused, he looked up at Thing as she replied.

"Because I never had a name to start with," She said without any sign of emotion on her face.

"But why?" Kyron didn't want to be nosy, but he really wanted to know. After all, she was obviously an orphan and the first girl he's seen for ten years, unless he counted the owner of the orphanage.

"I was left behind, thrown away, abandoned." She stopped sharpening her daggers and looked at him straight in the eye. Kyron flinched at the stare.

"Do you want to know how my life is? I'm afraid I could only tell you a portion of it," She said calmly.

"A little is great to me," Kyron replied, making himself comfortable on the cold, hard concrete floor.

"First of all, I'm one of the few that are able to stand up to the Heartless. So is Squall and a few others, and we're thinking you are too. They call us the 'Others'." Thing sighed and looked at him.

"It'll be great if you joined and help us, but it's not easy. We're practically not living…as if we're nobodies."

"But, if you could beat the heartless that means you could never die from them?" Kyron was amazed.

"No, of course not; the Heartless always takes what they want. Always. That's why we must sacrifice, Kyron. We must sacrifice ourselves. But we must be strong." Knowing that she said more than she needed to, she ignored Kyron and went back to her daggers.

There was a silence for a while, where only the pounding from the roof was heard.

"But, what do you have to sacrifice?" Kyron's whisper was barely heard.

"I think you should already know the answer to that." Thing got up and put on her trench coat.

"I'm gonna be right back. The Heartless are here." She went out without another word, leaving Kyron in the dark.

"Don't worry about her. She'll be ok," a raspy quack-like voice said.

Kyron looked around frantically. There wasn't anybody else here the night before.

"Whatcha so afraid of?" a dirty, tangled, grayish duck-like creature came out behind the mattress.

He chuckled. "Didn't know I was there, huh? My spells are working well, for an old duck like me. How's your heart? Feeling good?"

Kyron looked down at his bare chest again. Sure enough, the flesh was still covering the gash and there was no scar.

"The name's Donald Duck and Donald's all you have to call me. Heard your name was Kyron, young man. Nice to meet you!" he held out his hand.

Kyron hesitated and shook hands with this _Donald_.

"Well now, I better be off as well." He waddled away, leaving him alone once again. Everything went by so fast; Kyron didn't know what to do.

He sighed and sat back on his mattress.

"Might as well go back to sleep," Kyron said glumly and lied back down, thinking of the old, peaceful days.


	9. Heartless Attack

E.D.I.T.E.D

**Heartless Attack**

Kyron looked up at the ceiling, his arms behind his head. Just like his father, but he didn't know that. The night seemed different today; it felt more..._insecure_. It has been the second time in his life being left all alone. The day he was left by the school was hard to forget.

"What did she mean by sacrifice?" Kyron muttered to himself.

"_The Heartless always take what they want. Always. That's why we must sacrifice, Kyron. We must sacrifice ourselves. But we must be strong."_

Kyron sighed. He never felt so left behind. He had one of those emotional feelings where he just wanted to get his life over with. Go live with the others that all left him. Now that he realized it, he didn't even know why Rod wanted to run away so suddenly.

He sat up and went to the corner, dragging a moth eaten blanket with him.

The beating from the rain was getting louder and harder. It seemed as if there was no tomorrow.

"Squall, where are you?" Thing shouted as she quickly dodged a heartless that was flying at her and threw a limitless amount of daggers at it.

A gunshot answered her question and she ran for it.

There was a little scrawny boy who was beat up by a couple of senseless gangsters and left to bleed to death. Like ants feeding off of meat, the heartless were surrounding him.

"We were too late. There's too many of them. Using the Key wouldn't work." Squall ran his hand through his thinning, brownish, grayish hair; exhausted.

Thing went silent. Then, she raised her one of her daggers high in the air and brought it back down with a great force on her arm.

She clenched her teeth from the pain and took it back out. Most of the heartless had their attention on her now.

"Thing! What are you doing?" Squall looked at her as if she was mental.

She gazed at him and smiled.

"Sorry, you'll have to save me too. Take the kid somewhere safe. I could make it through at least an hour."

She fell on the floor as the heartless were all attacking her, greedily clawing her chest for the one precious thing they were all after. The heart.

Squall knew he was racing against time. He quickly shot the few remaining heartless around the boy with his gun blade and grabbed the boy. He was still breathing.

Although he was pretty old, he was still faster than young people. He ran through the rain, regardless of all the mud and puddles.

Behind him, other heartless were appearing and chasing after him. This is what he was afraid of.

A young boy about the age of 15 was lying motionless in the corner of the alley. One might think it was just a homeless boy taking a nap, but he was a runaway that was barely living.

There were scars and bruises all over his body and his chest was split open on the left side. But he was still breathing.

Rod slowly opened his bruised eye. His amber orbs couldn't make out anything; except the shine of light that seemed to tease him.

With all his effort, he shakily got on to his knees but had to sit back down when he started to cough. It hurt is throat like heck. He needed water. Without thinking, he dumped his head in one of the puddles and drank deeply.

He heard thumping noises but didn't bother to look. Rod had to live. He had to.

"Heh heh, little homeless boy is thirsty?" The all too familiar voice chuckled.

Rod stopped lapping at the water and looked up. It was a dark shadow.

"Come now, Roden. You're only an orphan. You can't survive out here."

A hand came out of nowhere and grabbed him on the shoulder.

"Stop! Leave me alone you hag!"

He slapped the hand away…no, _claws_.

He fell back down, exhausted. He squinted to see better in the dim light.

"Who are you?" Rod asked, trying to hide the quaver in his voice.

"Why, I'm the one that took care of you for nearly sixteen years!" Two yellow eyes looked into his. They were filled with greed and looking at his chest.

"No," he whispered.

"You never paid me back!" the heartless slashed at him, but he quickly rolled out of the way. He scrambled to his feet and made a run for it.

"Come back here you little monster!" the heartless stumbled and started to chase after him.

Rod panted and choked as he made his way through the alleyways until he came to a dead end. Desperately, he looked around for an escape. Nothing.

He turned around to see the shadow coming towards him. He got used to the dark and was able to make out the face. It was the orphanage owner.

On her chest was some kind of bright red sign. It looked something like a valentine's heart with an x running across it.

"It's ok, Roden. It's not that bad. It's a good way to get revenge!" She laughed and held his chin in her hands, sending unpleasant chills down Rod's back.

"Aww, you're so cute too. Tsk tsk tsk." She shook her head.

"But who cares?" She unsheathed her claws and went for his chest.

Rod shut his eyes, ready for the pain to come all over again, but something hit the heartless hag and threw her on her side.

A figure jumped from the other side of the wall and caught the object that had been thrown at the old witch.

"Thunder!" the voice called out.

A struck of lightning came from nowhere and hit her.

"Dah! I'll get you! I swear!" She quickly dissolved away.

Rod was sprawled on the floor, confused.

"Where's Kyron?" the figure asked.

Rod stared for a second, and finally realized.

"Mr. W? What are you doing here?" Rod looked at Sora with both admiration and confusion.

"Where's Kyron? Tell me NOW!" He completely ignored Rod and stabbed the ground with his key blade.

"I-I don't know," Rod replied timidly. Teachers were really scary outside of class.

"Gah, forget it."

He leaped over the wall and was gone, leaving Rod all alone again.

Thing knew her time was getting short. The air around her felt different. The hot breaths of the heartless were going down her back. She had been fighting them off until she ran short of weapons. Only if she had light…

Thing coughed up blood again. She was barely able to keep her eyes opened. Her chest ached ceaselessly. Most of the creatures had gone with the amount they wanted. Only about five were left, greedily grabbing shards of her heart like kids grabbing candy from the floor.

Finally, she couldn't hold it much longer. She let her head droop and closed her eyes.


	10. Rod's Confession

E.D.I.T.E.D

**Rod's Confession**

A middle aged man ran down the long alleys with a knocked out boy thrown over his shoulders. It was Squall trying to save two lives at the same time. However, it could just end up with one.

He rounded the last corner and sprinted into the abandoned warehouse.

"Kyron! Kyron! Get Donald right now!" Squall shouted urgently, his voice bouncing off the vacant room.

Kyron jumped out of bed, dazed. He looked around as if he didn't recognize where he was until he saw Squall.

He grunted, "Must've fallen asleep."

"No time for that. Get Donald! I'll be right back." Squall ran out the door and retraced his path to Thing.

Confused, Kyron looked at the boy. Finally, his senses came back. Panicking, he yelled after Squall.

"DONALD'S NOT HERE!" He helplessly kneeled next to the poor boy.

What can he do?

x.x.x

The air was cold around Thing's motionless body. Her arm's bleeding was now a trickle. The wound on her chest was closing up and there was a barely visible crimson sign on her skin.

Heavy footsteps came towards her and stood the owner of them stood above her.

The man's icy red eyes were twinkling in delight. He smiled and snapped his fingers and Thing's eyes shot open, revealing remarkable yellow eyes.

"Come." Ansem's deep voice demanded her.

Obediently, she slowly got up and looked around.

"Here's your very first task. Find the keyblade wielder and KILL him."

Thing sullenly nodded and disappeared in a swirl of thick, black smoke.

Ansem looked around and noticed a shadow beginning to come towards him swiftly. He hid behind the dumpster and saw that it was old Squall.

"Thing? THING! Where are you?" Squall looked around and saw that he was all alone.

"Oh, is that what you-you monsters did? Just take her whole body?" His face was creased with depression and he fell on his knees next to the puddle of blood.

"I _will _find you. I swear," He whispered.

:xxx:

Rod was sitting in the corner of the street in deep thought. He knew something that his teacher didn't want anybody to know. Kyron was his son, flesh and blood. He also knew who Kyron's "father" really was. But the one thing he didn't know was why his teacher would do something like that.

"He's probably afraid of Kyron," Rod muttered to himself, "He's afraid of him."

"Who's afraid of Kyron?" A voice quacked next to him.

"AHHH!" Rod fell on his back.

"Who's afraid of Kyron?" Donald repeated.

"Ho-how'd you do that? You just-just…popped out!" Rod's pulse was racing and beads of sweat rolled down the side of his face.

"You know, you really should answer when someone asks you something," Donald spat.

"Oh, sorry. Just that you scared me. No big deal, man."

"Who's afraid of Kyron?" Donald said once again.

"No-nothing. You probably don't even know him." Rod turned away from the psycho.

"Oh, but I do." Donald crossed his arms and turned the other way too.

Shocked, Rod looked back at the gray fowl. "What? You know Kyron? Where is he? Is he ok? He's alive? THIS IS GREAT!" Rod jumped to his feet and started to run down the alley to his left.

"Do you even_ know_ where you're going?" Donald pointed out sourly.

Rod stopped and looked at him, embarrassed. "Err, actually, I don't even know where _I _am."

"Thought so. Anyway, since it's so hard for you to answer my simple question, I'll tell you first. I happen to know Kyron, and his father, and his mother, and his friend, and his other friend, and so on. I was part of the trio. It was me, Goofy and Sora, your teacher. His wife happened to die giving birth to Kyron. Most parents would be overly protective of their motherless child but Sora rejected him. Riku happened to take care of Kyron until he died in a car accident and Kyron was sent to an orphanage. How do I know Kyron is the son of Sora and Kairi? His eyes tell it all…and his laziness. Now, I believe it's your turn." Donald smiled.

Rod stared at Donald. "Are-are you _God?_"

"No…I'm just a plain old duck. NOW JUST TELL ME WHO'S AFRAID OF KYRON!"

"Oh yeah. I think Mr. W is scared of Kyron. Why else would he abandon him?" Rod looked at his feet.

"Kyron is my only friend. I knew I had to take him away from Sora. I-I was selfish. I knew that Sora would take back his son sooner or later, like all the other friends I ever had. Kyron stuck by my side the longest and I thought he'd stay there forever. Because of me, Kyron almost died." Rod fell to the floor and hugged his knees, a stray tear rolling down his cheek and on to the cold floor.

Donald stared at him for a while and cracked up.

Rod looked up, his face streaked with tears. "What? What's so funny?"

'You're lame. Anyway, we have to find Sora, and I mean NOW. He's gotten weaker because of that keyblade of his. He could get severely injured, or even be killed if he uses it too long." Donald's face softened.

"Ok, let's go then. Hey, but what about Kyron? Where's he?" Rod got up and swiped away his tears with the back of his hand in the most disgusting way.

"He's staying with us. But you don't have time to stop by and say hi if you want to save Sora," Donald remarked seriously.

"Whatever you say. Let's go find him." Rod's fingers were tingling with excitement.

Donald turned towards the alleyway to his right and started to waddle as fast as his feet would let him. Rod found it hard to keep up with him. That's when he fell to his face. Donald halted and glanced back. Rod was sprawled on the floor, panting hard.

"What's the matter now?" Donald asked in an annoying voice.

"My-my heart. It can't take it." Rod wheezed, grabbing onto his chest as if his hands could cure it.

Donald's face was replaced with worry.

"The Heartless."

Rod looked up at Donald with pain in his eyes.

"I can't do it. I can't keep up with you, I'm sorry."

Donald looked down. "It can't be helped. But I'm sure your heart could take walking. Let me tell you where the Others and Kyron are." Donald sighed and started to tell him the direction.

xxxxxx:xxxxxx

Kyron was looking after the boy for almost an hour now. His breathing was short and rough.

"I'm sorry. I can't do anything for you. But you know what? I bet it's better than living without parents." Kyron didn't mean to sound so cold, but he was being fired up with the fact that his parents weren't alive and he was still living.

"My mom died giving birth to me and my dad died in a stupid car accident. If you die, you're really lucky." Kyron blinked.

_What the heck am I saying! I sound like an insane weirdo!_

Kyron looked around the dim room. Across from him, he saw an old, dusty, think book. He reached toward it and timidly opened the cover.

"It's some kind of spell book," He muttered to himself.

"_Didn't know I was there, huh? My spells are working well, for an old duck like me."_

"Oh yeah, Donald must be a wizard or something." Kyron chuckled and flipped through the pages.

"_Get Donald! I'll be right back."_

Kyron winced as those words of Squall rang through his ears. He didn't know where Donald was. He still didn't get why he needed a ragged old duck for.

As Kyron continued to flip through the pages, a spell caught his eyes. It was a time spell. That's when it hit him. Donald could save that boy! Kyron looked back at the body and back at the spell. Only if he can conjure magic…

"I need some kind of weapon and say the word 'Stopra'? That's it?" Kyron gasped in disbelief.

He quickly looked around for some sort of weapon and spotted some kind of long stick with cloth wrapped around the edges. He picked it up and raised it over the boy.

"STOPRA!"


	11. Cure

**Cure

* * *

**

Nothing, absolutely nothing.

Frustrated, Kryon chucked the stick across the room and dropped onto his knees. He had to go find Donald.

The teen quickly took off the worn jacket Thing had thrown at him the day before and covered the pale body of the boy.

"Don't die. If you die, it'll be my fault," Kyron pleaded as he stepped out into the dark, wet alleyway.

"Donald!" He called out as he splashed through the puddles.

Finding a duck in a large city filled with alleyways; that'll be pretty difficult.

xxx

"Turn left and keep going until you come across a stop sign," Rod muttered to himself as he made his way down the twisting alleyways. It was scary to be walking by himself, especially with the drizzle and the occasional shadow he made when he walked in front of a street lamp.

That Donald Duck guy was sure bad at giving directions. He was probably already at the warehouse by now. Rod winced as the left side of his chest started throbbing again. Whatever these heartless were, they were sure nasty boogers.

"Ahh!" Rod screamed as he felt something heavy bump into him.

"Be gone, you heartless_…fiends_! Argh!_" _Rod flapped his arms around and kicked off the body on top of him.

"R-Rod?" a familiar voice called out his name.

Rod opened his eyes as wide they can go and tried to see clearly through the light rain.

"Rod! It's you!"

The blonde felt himself being hugged and his hair ruffled.

"Kyron? Is that you?"

"Who else can it be, you idiot." Kyron laughed.

"Oh my freakin go-KYRON! Man, I was worried sick, you ding dong! Dude, you're safe!" Rod couldn't help but crying as he bear hugged his friend.

"Wow, you're alive. I can't believe this. I thought you were _dead,_" Kyron said as he helped his friend stand up.

"Ah ha ha, me too!" Rod laughed too, the crack in his voice being evidence that he was still going through puberty.

"How did you manage to find this street?" Kyron asked.

"Oh, this one duck told me." Rod said as he wrapped an arm around his friend's shoulder.

Kyron froze and stared at Rod.

"Duck?"

"Yeah, he told me that he knew you-"

"Where is he?" Kyron shook his friend and frantically looked behind him as if the gray fowl would appear any second.

"Whoa, chill. He went ahead of me; he's supposed to be at the warehouse," Rod said.

Kyron raised a brow, frowning.

"But I just came from there. I would've seen him by now."

Rod shrugged.

"Who cares if you see him or not? You can always look for him later. I'm cold, let's go to wherever you're staying," Rod blew into his hands and rubbed his arms.

Kyron shook his lion-like head.

"No, I _have_ to find Donald. He's the only one who can save the dying boy," Kyron murmured.

Rod dropped his arms to his sides.

"Oh" was all he was able to say.

"Here, why don't you go back to the warehouse and I'll go look for-"

"No," Rod said defiantly, "I already lost you once; I'm not losing you again, bro."

"But you're injured. You might bleed to death!"

Rod shoved Kyron with his fists.

"That's not the problem right now! Do you know how freakin' _scared_ I was? These heartless whatevers were trying to _kill _me! Nuh uh, I'm not going myself, Ron."

Kyron ran a hand through his hair. He knew better than to argue with Rod; he rarely changed his mind.

The brunette let out a long sigh and patted his friend on the shoulder.

"Ok, but if you die, it's not my fault," Kyron said somewhat sarcastically.

Rod smirked and ruffled his friend's spiky, wet locks.

"That's my boy. Let's go!" He whooped as he started to run the opposite way from where he was headed, but fell flat on his face after a few seconds.

Kryon laughed as he ran after Rod; he was the "cool" one most of the time, but he sure acted like an idiot a lot too.

As soon as Kyron was able to catch up to the blonde, the two friends started to walk. Both had their mouths shut tight as if they had stirred the dark creatures awake. They walked down one alleyway and occasionally turned left or right, but they knew they weren't making any progress.

"You know, it would be a lot easier if we just stay put in one place," Rod finally said, "'Cause there might be a chance that we and that duck are just circling each other."

Kyron silently nodded and halted below a small sign that read 'ITEMS' in peeling letters . It was able to block off a little bit of the cold rain that ran down his back.

The two fifteen-year-olds were silent again as they waited for someone they knew to walk by. It was irritating and annoying, but Rod was right; it would be impossible to find somebody in a city by walking around. They continued to share silence for a couple more minutes until Kyron finally decided to make conversation.

"Hey, what do you think would've happened to us if we weren't attacked by those heartless?" Kyron asked.

Rod thought for a while. The truth was; he never even thought about where he and Kyron would go after they broke out of the orphanage.

"Do you think we would've been better off than now?" Kyron added.

"I don't know…but I'm certain that it would have been better than being trapped in that orphanage," Rod finally replied.

The two stood side by side for a bit longer, the pitter patter of the rain making up for the silence. Light footsteps stepping through the various puddles soon joined the beating. Rod was the first to notice the dark silhouette emerging from the shadows.

"Hey, Ron," He nudged Kyron in the ribs.

"Hm?"

"Look over there," Rod whispered as he pointed at the wet figure.

Kyron squinted his eyes. Could it be…

"Squall?" Kyron called out.

The figure froze in its tracks.

"Squall? Is that you?" Kyron called out again.

The person, who Kryon decided was a man, only turned around and hastily started to walk the opposite direction.

"Hey! Where are you going?"

The brunette stepped out into the pouring rain and chased after the man. He shook away his damp bangs from his eyes and picked up his speed.

"Yo! Wait up!" Rod shouted as he ran after Kyron.

"Squall! Wai-"

"I'm not Squall!" the figure shouted carrying anger in his voice.

Kyron stared at the man in front of him, confused. Rod finally caught up with his friend, his weak heart racing. He stared up at the man as well and gasped.

"Mr. W?"

"_Mr. W? What's he doing out here?", _Kyron thought.

The three stood in the rain for awhile, unaware of the fact that they were standing in the middle of the street being beaten with bullets of water.

"Mr. W," Rod repeated.

Sora's shoulders slumped and his knees buckled underneath him. His heavy eyelids drooped over his eyes and he lied on the floor, gasping for air.

"Hey! Yo, teacher!" Rod ran over to Sora's side and shook him.

The blonde turned over to his friend.

"What are you doing? Help me!"

"Oh, right," Kryon said apologetically as he rushed to the other side of his teacher.

The two tried to pick him up, but the wet clothes on their backs and draping their teacher made it difficult. Rod gave up and dropped the unconscious man's arm.

"This is useless."

Kyron remained silent as he continued to try lifting up Sora. Finally, he managed to get him onto his back. With some difficulty, he got up with his knees wobbling underneath him.

_Clang_

Rod stared at the gleaming object that slipped out of the motionless hand. He silently picked it up and examined it.

"_So, this must be the keyblade_," He thought as he followed after Kyron.

xxx

"Hey, what about Donald?" Rod exclaimed as he trailed after Kyron into the warehouse.

Kyron didn't answer as he dropped the man on his back onto the grimy mattress. To his relief, the dying boy on the floor was still breathing…barely.

He turned to Rod.

"You stay here and look after these two; I'll go look for Donald."

Rod waved the keyblade in the air.

"What? We won't have enough time to cure-"

A blinding green light filled the room.

"AHH!" Rod screamed as he dropped the weapon as if it was a hairy spider.

The keyblade fell on the floor with a dull clunk and the green light faded away from its point. But less than a second later, the green light seemed to encircle the boy lying on the floor.

Kyron and Rod held their breath as they waited to see what would become of the dying boy.

"That green thingy's gonna _kill_ him," Rod said under his breath. "What are we gonna do?"

Kryon shushed him and didn't take his eyes off the boy. Something, something Rod said had activated that key-like weapon.

Finally, the boy slowly opened his eyes as if it was painful and got up with difficulty. He looked around as if he was confused and then his eyes fell on the two teens standing next to him.

"Um, where am I?" He asked. His voice carried tiredness and pain, but he was alive.

Kyron gasped in disbelief.

"You're gonna live!" He blurted as he pulled the shocked teen off from the floor.

"Hey, who are you? What do you mean? And where are my parents?"

Question after question tumbled out of his lips as Kyron smiled at Rod as if he was the best superhero in the whole world.

"_You _did it, Rod! You! You bonehead you,_" _Kyron laughed as grabbed Rod by his neck and ruffled his already messy hair.

"Now, we just have to figure out how to make that green stuff appear again and point that sword over there at Mr. W!" Kyron said happily.

"Whoa, hold_ on_ for a second!" Rod pulled away from his friend's deadly grasp and chocked out.

Kyron and the boy looked at him.

"Slow down, ok? First of all, who is this guy?" Rod asked as he pointed rudely at the confused teen.

"Um, my name is Auro and I'm thirteen year old," he said, shaking with nervousness and cold.

He looked up at the two figures looming over him with trembling emerald eyes. The blank stares they gave him told him he had to tell them more.

He cleared his throat a couple of times and tried to squeeze back his tears.

"My mom's name is Aerith and my dad's is Cloud. We were on our way to adopt a little sister for me, but then, but then-"

Auro broke down into tears and hugged the jacket over him closer to his body.

"Don't worry. I don't have parents either, and nobody at the orphanage had parents, too," Rod said with a grin.

The thirteen-year-old started to cry even harder.

Kryon slapped his face, shaking his head. What was wrong with his friend today?

"Look, Auro. There's a fairly high chance that your parents are still alive. I mean, Thing and Squall are strong people. I'm sure they were able to save your parents," Kyron said reassuringly.

"So pull yourself together and don't lose hope!" Kyron said firmly, but kindly.

Auro gave a mere nod and cuddled back onto the floor, sniffling.

Rod smirked and nudged Kryon.

"You sounded like some old grandpa back there," Rod said through his grin.

"Oh, shut up. We have to figure out how to cure Mr. W," Kyron said as he reached for the keyblade.

"Ok, ok," Rod said as he took the keyblade from Kyron's fingers.

The two sat around their teacher and thought.

"Ok, so what as the _last_ thing you said before that green light appeared?" Kyron asked.

Rod sat there, deeply in thought. What was it that he said? He was complaining about how they didn't have enough time and that they had to-

"Cure!" Rod exclaimed.

The same green light encircled the keyblade and shot through Sora's body. Afraid that comments would stop the magical light, the two friends intently waited to see what would happen. The light had now faded and Sora was still lying motionless on the mattress, but his breathing had become deeper and slower.

For several minutes, the only response the two got from the green light was the light knocking on the roof and their teacher's breathing. Kyron had almost given up hope when Sora moaned without warning.

"I'm sorry, Kairi," he mumbled.


End file.
